Domjolly - yes the London Branches of Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank have remained open for the last two weeks as was the subsidiary of The Bank of Cyprus in Moscow. They were allowing withdrawals in any amount apparently.

I guess there will now be very very few deposits over Euro 100k left in these banks. The losses on those remaining depositors over Euro 100k will be around 50% in my view if not higher and most of those will be local Cypriot businesses and modestly wealthy Cypriots.

When the ex Russian minster was pressed about the issue he said that it was theft outragous and that the EU would give the russians there money back

When the interviewer said how he said we have german and french companys in russia we can excat pressure this soundsvery bad to me i think the eu are walking a very dark path and the duch mister has already said this could becoe and i wuote a template for other countires

Thanks Domjolly, I didn't see newsnight (too busy working) I'll see if I can watch it later.

Just had a look at the Reuters link. Many very wealthy people have probably been taking their money out. So what will be left? Looks like those most effected will probably be Cypriot businesses, many won't survive this and the economy is expected to shrink by 15-20%. What a mess.

Interesting interview here about how banks create money and that private debt is actually a bigger problem than public debt.

The Chairman of Bank of Cyprus just resigned and rumours swirling that bank may also be liquidated.

The Cyprus central bank has asked the EU/ECB for an additional Euro 3 bn which it is thought might be the additional amount that was removed last week while banks were closed.

Young people rioting/protesting on the streets of Cyprus. This looks very ugly. No sign of banks opening yet and with potentially the two biggest Cypriot bank being closed for good - who knows when they might.

G4S (the British security firm involved in the Olympics) has been hired to guard the Cypriot banks when they re open on Thursday. But their Managing Director confidently predicts it won't be a big job:

"People have had time to digest the agreement so maybe there won't be that scenario whereby people run to the banks to withdraw"

I agree with MinitheMinx. All these countries were heavily pressured by private banks to issue public debt as a means of financing government programs. Bankers made huge bonuses out of this. To repay these debts whose interest payments have spiralled out of control, they are now being pressured to steal from their own citizens. Which will again yield huge bonuses for those who implement it.. ;) And then they wonder why average Europeans have given up (below dismal birthrates for decades) and they need to import labour , it's just mind-boggling.

Everyone wants to pass the buck. Any subprime borrower who borrowed more than they could afford is at fault. Any bank which loaned silly percentages is at fault. Any nation which spent more money than it had coming in is at fault. Let us have taking of responsibility rather than constant buck passing. Any greedy Briton who wanted 6% interest on savings in Cyprus rather than 1% in the UK took a risk just as they did when they went for the too good to be true Icelandic bank rates in the UK.

Will be interesting to see if £3bn was taken out of Cypriot banks when they were supposedly closed.